Nadia: “There is Hope for a Better Future for Women in Poland.”

June 25, 2021

Nadia believes activism can change the world. Over the last few years in Poland, women’s reproductive choices have been stripped back at an alarming rate. The young activist wants to reverse this erosion of women’s rights by campaigning for better reproductive, labour and social rights across the country. Nadia is painfully aware that in Poland, where public discourse is dominated by men, the belief that “children and young women have no voice” still reigns.

"I wish we no longer had to talk about the wage gap, reproductive rights, the overloading of women with unpaid reproductive work. I want to live in a world where women had freedom of expression and the full right to pleasure on our terms," the activist says.

Continued: https://defendthedefenders.eu/nadia-there-is-hope-for-a-better-future-for-women-in-poland/

Women’s Rights Are Human Rights

This fight against women's oppression is not just a struggle for women, but for all of humanity.

Tuesday, April 06, 2021

by Alison Bodine, Common Dreams

March 8, 2021, International Women’s Day, is an important day to recognize the
challenges confronted and the great victories made by women around the world,
especially in the past year of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Over the last 12 months, in addition to the health challenges posed by Covid-19
itself, women have faced increasing rates of domestic violence, higher rates of
job loss, as well as a larger burden of the care of children and families
because of the pandemic. In countries like the U.S. and Canada, government
mismanagement of Covid-19 has amplified the health and economic crisis. Black,
Indigenous, and immigrant women and their communities have been
disproportionately impacted by the crisis.
Continued: https://www.commondreams.org/views/2021/04/06/womens-rights-are-human-rights

Poland: Escalating Threats to Women Activists

Human Rights Watch
March 31, 2021

(Berlin) – Bomb and death threats targeting at least seven groups in Poland for supporting women’s rights and the right to abortion are disturbing reminders of escalating risks to women’s human rights defenders in the country, Human Rights Watch, CIVICUS, and International Planned Parenthood Federation-European Network (IPPF-EN) said today.

The authorities should urgently investigate, protect the women targeted and hold those responsible for the threats accountable. Polish officials should also counter abusive misinformation campaigns targeting activists.

Continued: https://www.hrw.org/news/2021/03/31/poland-escalating-threats-women-activists

31.03.2021

All-Poland Women's Strike

Andrzej Duda

anti-choice death threats

anti-choice extremism

anti-choice hatred

anti-choice misogyny

anti-choice terrorism

anti-choice threats

anti-choice violence

Bartlomiej Wroblewski

Federation for Women and Family Planning

Feminoteka

FundacjaFOR

Grupa Stonewall

Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights

Hillary Margolis

Human Rights Watch

International Planned Parenthood Federation

International Planned Parenthood Federation European Network

International Women's Day

Law and Justice party

Marta Lempart

Ogólnopolski Strajk Kobiet

Poland Constitutional Tribunal

Przemysław Czarnek

Women’s Rights Centre (Centrum Praw Kobiet)

Women’s Strike

Women’s Strike Consultative Council

The women trapped and traumatised by Poland’s near-total abortion ban

Poland already had some of the strictest abortion laws in Europe, but new changes have effectively banned them completely.

21 Mar 2021
(26 minute podcast)

Poland already had some of the strictest abortion laws in Europe, but new changes have effectively banned them completely.

Many women now have to travel abroad to seek abortions or risk performing them at home.

Continued: https://www.channel4.com/news/the-women-trapped-and-traumatised-by-polands-near-total-abortion-ban

Polish women mark Women’s Day protesting abortion ban

Mar 8, 2021

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Women’s rights activists in Poland marked International Women’s Day on Monday caught between reasons to celebrate and a heavy sense that they are facing a long battle ahead.

This year’s Women’s Day, which was marked with protests, comes after a near total ban on abortion took effect in January in the mostly Roman Catholic country, a step that had long been been sought by the conservative ruling party, Law and Justice.

Continued: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/polish-women-mark-womens-day-protesting-abortion-ban

08.03.2021

Featured

News

International Women's Day

Klementyna Suchanow

Law and Justice party

Marta Krzynowek

Marta Lempart

Women’s Day Without Compromises

Civil unrest as Poland implements near-total abortion law; an attack on reproductive rights

Makaela Jones
March 1, 2021
The Organization for World Peace

On 27 January, the Polish government passed controversial legislation further tightening their already restrictive abortion laws. Relative to other European nations, Poland’s abortion laws were already prohibitive, tolerated only in cases of rape, incest, foetal abnormalities, and maternal health complications. The government’s ruling follows an earlier revision made by the Constitutional Tribunal in October 2020 that declared the termination of a congenitally defective fetus was unconstitutional. The abortion law was last amended in 1993. The proposed amendment resulted in an extreme public outcry and mass demonstrations, forcing the government to reassess the revised abortion law. Prior to the Courts ruling on Wednesday the government had indicated they were open to dialogue. However, the abrupt passing of the new legislation has caused extreme division amongst Polish residents. It demonstrates the extreme cultural, moral, and political divide that resides within Poland. The continual nationwide unrest is the largest the country has seen following the fall of communism in 1989.

Continued: https://theowp.org/civil-unrest-as-poland-implements-near-total-abortion-law-an-attack-on-reproductive-rights/

01.03.2021

Commentary

Featured

All-Polish Women’s Strike

foetal abnormalities

Marta Lempart

Poland Constitutional Tribunal

Poland’s Recent Abortion Ban

The PiS, the Catholic Church, and the Denial of Basic Human Rights

By Enora Lauvau
On Feb 21, 2021
The McGill International Review

Known to be a conservative Roman Catholic nation, Poland has long been home to fierce debate over abortion rights, with the two opposing sides consisting of traditionalists and those advocating a more progressive agenda. Tensions reached an all-time high last October, as the country’s Constitutional Tribunal ruled to further increase the restrictions on legal abortions. Already, Poland had some of the most stringent abortion laws in Europe, with abortion been legal in only three cases: fetal abnormalities, a direct threat to the woman’s health, and rape or incest. In a decision made on October 22, 2020, however, the court declared abortions in the case of congenital defects illegal, on the basis that the Polish Constitution protects human life. Considering that out of the mere 1,100 abortions that legally occurred in Poland last year, 98 per cent of them were for this reason, such a decision essentially ensures that those seeking abortions will either be forced to leave the country or perform them at home, both of which will put their health at risk and leave them vulnerable to legal prosecution. Already, women’s rights groups estimate that between 80,000 to 150,000 citizens get abortions outside of Poland’s health system each year.

Continued: https://www.mironline.ca/polands-recent-abortion-ban/

The unheard pain of abortion in Poland

By Valérie Gauriat
Updated: 12/02/2021

In front of one of Warsaw's main hospitals, an ominous van is parked. Its sides are covered in an image of what is allegedly a dead fetus. It's a message from anti-abortion groups to one of the capital’s few facilities that still perform pregnancy terminations.

A recent ruling by the Constitutional Tribunal has just toughened one of the most restrictive abortion laws in Europe. Terminations in Poland were once only allowed in cases of rape, incest, danger to the mother's health or life, serious defects of the fetus or incurable disease. The new amendments mean that last option is now prohibited.

Continued: https://www.euronews.com/2021/02/12/the-unheard-pain-of-abortion-in-poland

After Poland Issued a Near-Total Ban on Abortions, Marta Lempart Has Been on the Front Line of the Protests

BY MIRA PTACIN
February 11, 2021

It’s been called different things: the Coat Hanger Rebellion, Black Protests, Strajk Kobiet, or Women’s Strike. For half a decade, it’s continued to grow louder and stronger. Now, many are calling it a revolution: millions of Polish women, men, and children protesting the government and all-powerful Catholic Church’s continuous attempts at a near-total ban of abortion.

Over the past several years, Poland’s conservative Law and Justice Party (PiS) has introduced increasingly draconian restrictions on abortion access in the country. In 2016, a proposal was introduced that would ban nearly all abortions except those necessary to save a woman’s life. The citizens of Poland took to the streets, and the protests had a dramatic impact: The the PiS, which had previously championed the bill, voted the legislation down.

Continued: https://www.vogue.com/article/poland-abortion-marta-lempart

Women’s rights activist charged for taking part in Polish abortion protests

Marta Lempart charged with insulting a police officer among other alleged offences

Maya Oppenheim, Women’s Correspondent
Feb 11, 2021

A woman’s rights activist involved in protests against the widely criticised near-total abortion ban in Poland has been charged.

In recent months Poland has been rocked by the largest protests since the collapse of communism after the government unveiled plans to further tighten already restrictive abortion laws last October - with demonstrations erupting again last month after the court’s justification for the original ruling was enshrined into law.

Continued: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/poland-abortion-protests-marta-lempart-b1800915.html